February 3, 2014

Event date: –

Thursday, February 27
3pm Public Lecture
at The Center for Cartoon Studies

46 South Main Street
in the Post Office building
White River Junction

The event is free
and open to the public.

Montpelier, Vermont—Brookfield, Vermont resident Edward Koren will become Vermont’s second cartoonist laureate on Thursday, February 27, 2014, when he will be recognized on the State House floor. Vermont is the only state that regularly appoints a cartoonist laureate.

Edward Koren has long been associated with the The New Yorker magazine, where he has published over 1,000 cartoons, as well as numerous covers and illustrations. David Remnick, The New Yorker’s editor, has this to say about Koren’s work: “The great imaginative artists, comic or seriocomic (what other kinds are there?), are great at least in part because they create a world: Baldwin’s Harlem, Faulkner’s hamlet, Chekhov’s dachas. Ed Koren not only created a world—the Koren worlds are both urban and Vermontian, but all Koren—he also created creatures, part human, part fantastical, to represent and give voice to all of our anxieties, joys, and craziness. Long live Ed Koren, his world and his creatures!”

Koren has also contributed to many other publications, including The New York Times, Newsweek, Time, G.Q., Esquire, Sports Illustrated, Vogue, Fortune, Vanity Fair, The Nation and The Boston Globe. His illustrated books include “How to Eat Like a Child,” “Teenage Romance” and “Do I Have to Say Hello” (all by Delia Ephron), “A Dog’s Life” by Peter Mayle, “Pet Peeves” by George Plimpton, and “The New Legal Seafoods Cookbook” by Roger Berkowitz and Jane Doerfer. “Thelonius Monster’s Sky-High Fly Pie” was published in 2006, “Oops” by Alan Katz in 2008, and “How to Clean Your Room” in 2010.

Edward Koren has received a Doctor of Humane Letters Degree from Union College, and been a John Simon Guggenheim Fellow. He was Distinguished Visitor at The American Academy in Berlin, Germany in 2003. In 2007 he received The Vermont Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts.

Edward Koren was born in New York City and attended the private Horace Mann School and Columbia University. He did graduate work in etching and engraving with S. W. Hayter at Atelier 17 in Paris, France and received an MFA degree from Pratt Institute. He currently resides with his family in Vermont, where he has been a member of the Brookfield Volunteer Fire Department for 24 years, formerly serving as captain. For a complete bio, and to see Edward Koren’s work, visit:  edwardkoren.com

Burlington’s James Kolchalka was the state’s first cartoonist laureate. During Kochalka’s three-year term, he conducted cartooning workshops and presentations throughout the State, produced a poster featuring his comics celebrating winter in Vermont, and collaborated with Vermont Poet Laureate Sydney Lea to produce the Vermont Double Laureate Team-Up for the Vermont Arts Summit.

Despite its small size, Vermont has had a disproportionately large impact on contemporary cartooning. Celebrated cartoonists Alison Bechdel, Harry Bliss, Stephen Bissette, Jason Lutes, James Sturm, and Rick Veitch call Vermont home and The Center for Cartoon Studies is attracting the next generation of talent like Luke Howard, Joseph Lambert and Sophie Goldstein to the state.

“A cartoonist laureate is the kind of thinking outside-the-box that Vermont supports. Cartooning promotes literacy and literature, two things we can’t have enough of,” stated Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin.

Following the State House recognition, Koren will be give a public lecture at 3pm at The Center for Cartoon Studies, 46 South Main Street in White River Junction. The event is free and open to the public.